


Crash Landing

by lildarkone



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, Mild Hurt/Comfort, clumsy kimberly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-13 03:21:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11751000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lildarkone/pseuds/lildarkone
Summary: With all her cheerleading training, and the added boost of the coins, Kimberly Hart would definitely call herself graceful. She could perform a perfect backward twist flip with the squad or scissor kick a Puttie into oblivion. She was totally graceful……well until she was climbing through Trini’s window and spotted her fellow ranger lounging on her bed, clad only in sweatpants cut down to shorts and a sports bra. A sports bra that showed off her smooth stomach and muscled arms to perfection. In this case Kim would call herself a klutz.  Her foot skipped on the sill, causing her to stagger over the desk and fall face first onto the floor.  Whatever was on the desk rained down to the floor along with her.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This came after reading a post about Kimberly sneaking in, being a useless/thirsty bi when seeing her crush in a bra, and losing any sense of balance as a result.  
> This is un-beta'd so any and all mistakes are my own.  
> Enjoy ^.^

With all her cheerleading training, and the added boost of the coins, Kimberly Hart would definitely call herself graceful. She could perform a perfect backward twist flip with the squad or scissor kick a Puttie into oblivion. She was totally graceful…

…well until she was climbing through Trini’s window and spotted her fellow ranger lounging on her bed, clad only in sweatpants cut down to shorts and a sports bra. A sports bra that showed off her smooth stomach and muscled arms to perfection. In this case Kim would call herself a klutz.  Her foot skipped on the sill, causing her to stagger over the desk and fall face first onto the floor.  Whatever was on the desk rained down to the floor along with her.

“Kimberly, what the hell?!” Trini gasped, jumping up from her bed. Kimberly turned over, yelping when something sharp poked into her stomach and side. She looked down to see that her ever-so-smooth entrance had knocked over a couple of small cacti and they had taken revenge by stabbing her with multiple little points of death. _‘Insult to injury. Great.’_ She grimaced, trying to smooth it out into a confidant smile.

**BAM BAM BAM!**

“Trini?! Que esta pasando? _(what’s going on in there)_  Is someone breaking in? Open the door or your father is going to break the door down.” Trini’s mother yelled through the door, sounding more and more hysterical with each sentence.

“Hide!” Trini hissed, tugging her fellow Ranger over to her bed. “Get under here!”

Kimberly couldn’t even argue this before more pounding came from the door.

“I’m coming, geez mom relax,” Trini said, casting one more glance behind her to make sure nothing looked amiss…besides her shit scattered all over the floor and her small barrel cacti destroyed. Rolling her eyes at both the girl under her bed and her mother who sounded as if she was going to break the door down with her fist, Trini unlocked the door.

“Are you okay? Is someone trying to break in?” Her mother asked as her father squeezed by them, looking around for any intruder.

“I’m fine, really. No one is trying to break in. Mom, stop, jeez,” Trini replied as she pulled away from her mother’s hands that were checking her other. “I had…climbed at my desk to get at an…annoying bug that had gotten in.”

‘Wait…hey!’ Kimberly thought, eyes narrowing as she watched the three pairs of feet move around.

“A bug? Trinidad Diana Gomez!”

 _‘Great the whole name. And I was just relaxing minding my own business.’_ Trini sighed as her mother went on.

“That sounded like someone was trying to break in. You scared me and you father half to death.  Dios mio, what were you thinking crawling around on furniture in the middle of the night?”

“I’m sorry. It looked like it was dangerous, like one of those like wasp things…turned out it was kind of harmless and more a danger to itself than anyone else,” Trini replied, glancing down at her bed and practically feeling the glare directed at her ankles.

“We’re just glad you’re okay, honey,” Her dad stepped in. He nodded to the broken pot and cactus. “Especially with those. Don’t you remember the last time you got stuck on a cactus? You had spines in your butt and thigh and were crying pretty badly.”

“I was five and stupidly followed cousin Consuelo out into the desert to play hide and seek,” Trini quickly countered, not wanting Kimberly, or anyone for that matter, to hear that embarrassing tid-bit. After a few more minutes of cajoling and promising to be careful before Trini’s parents finally left. Trini let out an aggravated breath before turning to look at her bed and the girl sliding out from beneath it.

“An annoying bug? Really?”

“What? You wanted me to say that my friend decided to sneak into my room, but lost the ability to tell her left foot from her right all of a sudden? Yeah that’d go well,” Trini replied as she started to clean up the mess, careful not to touch the cactus with her bare hands. She looked up when Kimberly knelt next to her to help. “What are you doing here anyway? And what the hell was with that landing? I thought you were a hotshot cheerleader?” Most of the irritation was gone, leaving only wry amusement and a hint of confusion.

Kimberly shrugged, hoping the blush she could feel rushing up her neck wasn’t noticeable. “I dunno I was…just bored I guess. And restless…” she trailed off, fiddling with a pencil. She shifted to stand, then gasped when the spines in her side dug in deeper.

Trini turned quickly to see Kimberly shift and lift up the side of her shirt. At first her eyes focused on the spines she could see sticking out from Kimberly’s flank and the edge of her gym short, but they trailed up the subtly defined abs and the exposed sweep of a rib. It was something that seemed to be happening more and more often lately and every single time left Trini flatfooted and hoping she didn’t look like her brain had completely short circuited.

“I think that cactus won,” Kimberly hissed, turning to look at her friend. The look in Trini’s dark unwavering gaze had all thoughts of the spines fleeing from her mind and the heat of embarrassment flooding a little further south.

Trini snapped herself out of her stare, horrified when she noticed she was caught staring. Turning quickly, she made her way to the door, “Not to mention gravity. I’ll go get some stuff to get those out. Hold on.”

Before Kimberly could blink Trini had slipped out the door and was gone.

-=-

Trini closed her bedroom door with a sigh, taking a moment to gather herself.  All she had wanted was a quite night, a night where she didn’t have to deal with her crazy family, any ranger duties, or this stupid crush.  Now two out of the three had invaded her time and she almost wished to be back fighting Rita if only to not have to deal with the mortification of being caught staring.  Momentarily her vision filled with glowing green and gold and a hint of brackish water coated the back of her tongue.  Taking a deep breath to banish the thought she shook her head, ‘okay maybe not.’  She crossed into the bathroom and began rummaging in the medicine cabinet for what she was going to need.  She had crushes on girls in the past, often classmates, but moving around often made it easy to deal with them. 

However that wasn’t the case here, and her second defense, her sarcastic, aloof air that usually kept everyone at arm’s length was completely demolished in the face of what they’ve all been through.  A literally out-of-this-world secret and almost dying has a way of tearing down walls.  They had all become close, closer then family.  Most of the time Trini would admit she didn’t all together hate it.  It was nice having a group of friends that she could depend on. 

She had people she could turn to when her nightmares got too bad.  When the memory of being crushed in her Zord, slowly burning and suffocating became too much, when she could almost feel Rita’s claws digging into her throat again as she was slammed into the wall…okay well Zach was actually the only one who knew about her nightmares about the night of the attack, but still…she had that.  And she didn’t want a stupid crush on her stupid, beautiful friend to mess up this stupid little family she’s found.

Grabbing the gauze, tweezers, and a few other needed items Trini turned back to the door, but stopped, leaning her forehead against the cool wood.  She had to figure out a way to deal with this.  Unbidden her mind conjured memories of looks the she and Kim would share, small smiles and flirty exchanges meant only for each other, that playful moment in the diner with that donut, quiet moments after practice when they would patch one another up, nights spent out in the woods by a fire, silent, but comforting all the same.  Heated looks thrown not only by Trini, but Kimberly as well.

A small voice whispered in the back of her head, _‘But you could also have a lot to gain.’_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for how long this has taken. RL events accumulating in my computer crashing and losing this story's file lead to a period of creativity loss. It came out much different then how I had originally planned, but I'm happy with it. Hopefully you are as well. Thank you so much for the kudos and everything. It's made the last month a little better.
> 
> As always these are un-beta'd so any and all mistakes are my own.

The bedroom door closed with a _snick,_ echoing in the room like thunder.  It was nowhere near as loud as the blood rushing in Kimberly’s ears however.  She slumped back onto the bed, wincing as the needles shifted in her skin. Without thinkg her hand flew to her side and her yelped when a needle pricked her palm. “Stupid cactus,” She grumbled, sending a baleful glare at the decimated succulents strewn on the floor.  All she had wanted was to spend some time with Trini, maybe even ask if she wanted to hang out this weekend.  Just the two of them.  That was it.  No different than any other night when they’d sneak into one another’s rooms or sneak off to the quarry.  But no, Trini had to be wearing a stupid tank top that showed off her stupid…gorgeous body…

Heat crawled up her body, blooming along her upper chest and neck as her mind traitorously supplied memories; of Trini training and stripping down to her tank top, sweat rolling down to pool in the hollow of her throat; all of them at the river, Trini in a bikini top and surfer shorts, eyes bright and smile wide as she dunks Zach.

She wasn’t stupid, she knew she was falling for Trini, had been since that night at the bonfire when she’d gotten her first glimpse behind the cold, tough façade.  It had only grown as they had spent time together, as Trini became more comfortable, and let more and more layers of her typical sarcasm drop away to reveal more genuine smiles and full laughs.  It was getting harder and harder to deny it.  If she was honest with herself, something she found was hard to do sometimes, it was why she came over tonight, to finally take a chance.  That had been blown to hell though with her spectacular entrance.

The sound of the door opening pulled Kimberly from her thoughts.  She twisted, ignoring the pinch in her side, as she readied herself to drop to the ground.  Trini’s head poking around the door jamb let her relax back onto the mattress.

“Just me,” Trini replied as she slipped in and relocked the door behind her.  Crossing to her bed she deposited her armful next to Kim’s leg before reaching for her desk chair.

“Glue?”  Kim cocked her head as she hefted the small bottle in her palm.

“it’s for the smaller needles that I won’t be able to take those out with tweezers,” Trini explained as she picked up said item.  “It doesn’t look like there’s too many, but it’s gonna pinch when I pull them out.  Grab onto something if you need to.”

Kim settled back on her bed and took a breath.  Heeding her friend’s advice, she reached for the first thing within reach, Trini’s leg.  The muscle under her palm twitched and Kimberly’s eyes flew up to her face, waiting. 

For a long moment Trini’s eyes were glued to the soft palm and long graceful fingers burning into the skin above her knee.  Swallowing to try and get some moisture in her suddenly dry throat, she forced her eyes back to her task at hand.  “Here we go.”

-=-

The first removal had her yelping in surprise, fingers digging into the thick muscle in her hand.  She slapped a hand over her mouth, glaring at a smirking Trini.  She hadn’t expected it to hurt that much!  She gave a pinch to Trini’s thigh for the insolent smirk before settling back down and nodding for her to continue before looking for some type of distraction.  As it often happened, her eyes were drawn to Trini, following the lines of her arms and curves of her shoulder, over the golden skin and slightly pursed lips.  She could feel the pinch of the needles being removed, but it was only a distant pain.

The idea of liking a girl wasn’t anything new for the ex-cheerleader, she’d always found girls as attractive as guys, but in a town like Angel Grove it was just easier to date the guys.  Besides most of the girls she used to hang out with where not worth the inevitable headache.  However, as they spent more time together, whether it was at school, training, or whatever, the maybes and what ifs of possibility started to bubble up in her mind.  What would be a good place to take Trini?  Would she stand a little romance or would it be too much?  Most importantly would Trini say yes if Kim asked her out?

She let out a softer yelp when a particularly stubborn needle was finally pulled free.  Trini patted her thigh in commiseration before reaching for the glue and gauze.  The glue was cold, earning a small squeak, as Trini spread it along her flank, careful not to disturb the remaining needles any more than necessary.  She then pressed the gauze to it, reaching back to grab a sheet of paper to fan it dry.

It was when she was doing this that Kimberly’s eyes were drawn to Trini’s neck, specifically the four scars that ran from the juncture of her shoulder and neck, and down her collarbone.  While the coins did help them heal faster they could still scar, depending upon the severity of the wound.  And though they were not necessarily life threatening, the violence that put them there had been deadly. 

Where once there was warmth spreading from Trini’s gentle touch, Kimberly felt cold dance along her spine as she remembered that night.  That night that they had lost Billy, had almost lost Trini.  That night that as she had been at Jason’s talking about that damn picture, Trini had been defenseless against Rita’s without even the ability to morph to aid her.  She remembered getting the text, confused by the terse, vague message they had all received at one in the morning.  Remembered the fear and horror at seeing one of their own beat and bloody.  Trini had stood at the top of the bleachers, defiant as blood soaked her shirt and Rita’s message tumbled from her lips.  She remembered the surge of adrenaline that had passed through them when they decided to fight Rita, remembered how quickly it had turned to defeat and horror when Billy had been killed.  Looking back all, she could wonder now is what if.  What if Rita had wanted to send Trini’s dead body as the message?  The morphing grid had saved Billy, but by the time they would have found Trini would it have been too late?

Trini paused when she felt Kimberly stiffen.  She sat back a little, thinking she had hit a needle, until she saw the pale tone on her friend’s skin, and the shiny dark eyes that were locked on her shoulder.  She knew without asking where Kimberly was, a place that Trini fought not to sink into whenever she looked in the mirror.  Turning away to fiddle with her supplies, hoping that breaking the Pink Ranger’s eyeline would help break the spell, she said, “It’s funny.  I convinced my parents I had gotten attacked by a dog when I was hiking.  Course my mom dragged me to get a freakin’ rabies shot.  I think that hurt more than fighting a Puttie.”

Kimberly blinked as her line of sight was cut off and she was forced back to the present.  She smirked at the offered levity, clutching onto it.  “What?  The big bad yellow ranger can’t take a little needle?”

Trini smirked when she heard Kimberly’s voice steady.  Turning back she put on a mock look of indignation.  “Little?  Have you seen how big those damn needles are?”  reaching over she flicked her arm, “And was that a crack on my size?  Here I am trying to patch you up and you’re making fun of me.  After you destroy my plants, I might add.  That’s gratitude for you.”  Trini sat back, intent on getting something to fan the edges when she felt her hand captured and she was tugged back around.  The comment on her tongue was strangled by the intent look in Kimberly’s dark eyes.  The emotion that filled the umber depths were both terrifying and enthralling as it called to something within Trini’s own heart.

Kimberly opened her mouth, but closed it once more, stopping the words of gratitude from spilling forth.  They weren’t gratitude for the needle removal, but for Trini still being there.  Shaking her head, she instead plastered on a smirk, “I’ll buy you two new cacti, how about that?”

“Those were from my Abuela’s garden in Arizona,” Trini replied with a frown, struggling not to laugh at the sight of Kimberly’s face dropping.  She focused on fanning the gauze to help keep herself serious.  “She gave those to me before I left to remember her by.”

“Oh my god, Trini I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean t-” Kimberly cut herself off when she saw the smaller girl’s shoulders twitch then twitch again.  Her horror at having crushed something of sentimental value turned to indignation as she realized she’d been had.  “You jerk.”  Trini bust up laughing, slapping a hand over her mouth to keep quiet while trying to dodge the hand the was swiping at her shoulder.

“I’m sorry that was too easy.  I got them in Arizona, sure.  But just at a Home Depot,” Trini explained.  “God, you should have seen your face.”

“You’re an ass.”

“I know,” Trini replied with an unrepentant shrug.  Turning back to the task at hand she checked the gauze and determined it was time for it to come off.  “Now you might want to grab onto something.  This might hurt a bit.”  She looked down when a hand suddenly curled around her calf that she had curled so she was able to sit close.  “Ready?  On three.”  Taking a gauze edge in hand she continued, “One, two,” RRRRIIIIPPPP!

“Ouch!” “Hey!”

Both girls glared at one another, Kimberly holding her side, feeling the burning skin and Trini rubbed the shoulder that was punched.

“You said on three,” Kimberly grumbled.  She had her legs waxed before and while it didn’t hurt as bad as that, it still hurt. 

Trini shrugged and turned back to examining the area, running her thumb over the area, satisfied when she didn’t see or feel anymore.  She tried hard to ignore the soft, warm skin beneath her fingers, focusing instead on picking up the wet washcloth she’d brought with her.  “Better to do it when you’re not expecting it.  This’ll help though.”  She laid the cloth against her flank, careful as she knew that while it felt lukewarm to her own touch, against the inflamed skin of Kimberly’s flank it was going to be a shock.  Sure, enough Kimberly jumped, then let out a sigh of relief.

“So how do you know so much about taking cactus needles out.  Did this have anything to do with you and your cousin in the desert?”  Kimberly asked, lips widening in a shit-eating grin.  It widened further when Trini rolled her eyes.  No answer was forth coming so she continued, “Come on we’re supposed to ‘shed our masks’,” She finished in a horrible Zordon rendition.  It got the desired effect of making Trini laugh.

“You’re a dork.  And it’s going to take more than smores around a campfire to have me tell that story,” Trini replied as she started to gather up all the stuff and threw away the trash.  She made a mental note to stuff the bag in her backpack to ditch later so her parents didn’t see and ask questions.

“That sounds like a challenge,” Kimberly said.

“Take it as whatever you want, Princess.”  With nothing else to busy herself with Trini sat back on the bed, leg pressed against Kimberly’s side.  It was a strange sensation that came over her as she sat there, an interesting mix of nerves and calm.  Her fingers itched to reach out once more, to brush over the curves and edges and wrap around the hand resting close to her own knee.  But at the same time having Kim here, a sweet distraction in a room that had nightmares in its shadows, was a welcome event.

“Are you doing anything this Saturday?”  Kimberly blurted.  While she was enjoying the quiet and the warm weight of Trini’s knee against her side, every stroke and lingering glance had been bolstering her courage to ask Trini out and she wanted to get it out before she lost her nerve.  Of course, it would have been better if the delivery had been a little smoother, and not verbal vomit.

Trini blinked in surprise, not expecting that, but shrugged.  “I have to go to get paint to finish up the wall,” She replied, nodding over her shoulder to the bare wall that Kimberly had honestly been trying to not look at the entire night.  Unknown to her, Trini had been trying to do the same.  It was smooth now, plastered and sanded down, but the glaring white against the deep yellow of the rest of the wall was like a scar.  Healed and smooth, but still a stark reminder of the violence that night.  “I told my parents that I was trying to move the wardrobe and it knocked into the wall.  Between that and the scratches I’m pretty sure my parents think I’m accident prone.  Your crash landing probably didn’t help any.”

“I’m sorry,” Kimberly said, never looking away from the wall.  Inside her mind it was for more than just the destruction of her plants.  It was for not being there that night, for leaving Trini alone to deal with that monster by herself.

Trini opened her mouth, glib reply on the tip of her tongue, but it stopped when she saw the tense set of her shoulders and mouth.  There was a weight behind that sorry that the young woman wasn’t expecting and wasn’t sure how to deal with.  Without thinking she reached out and grasped Kimberly’s hands, forcing those sad brown eyes to her own.  She hated seeing that look.  “It’s okay,” She said, smirking to try and alleviate the darkness.  “Well it’s not, but nothing a coat of paint can’t fix.  But did you want to do something else on Saturday?”

Kimberly blinked, pulling herself from her thoughts and focusing on Trini.  “Uh yeah.  I wanted to see if you wanted to go swimming this Saturday, after detention.  We can head to the hardware store after.  I’ll help with the painting.”  She wanted to help take away any trace of pain she was able, both her own and Trini’s.

“Spend the day trying not to get dunked by Zach.  Tempting, so tempting.”  The dryness of Trini’s tone pulled any moisture out of Kimberly’s mouth.  Of course, it could also have been the thumb that was rubbing almost absent mindedly over her knuckles. 

“No,” Kimberly squeaked, then cleared her throat, face flaming when Trini’s eyebrow cocked in confusion.  “No um…I thought just me and you could go.  Take a break from the boys for a little bit.”

It was something that they had done before sure, coffee breaks at Starbucks, hanging out at one another’s houses, but swimming at the river was generally a group thing, or Kimberly went on her own.  The idea of seeing Kimberly in her pink bikini, something she’d seen before sure…but the idea of just them two of them was undeniably appealing.  A part of her wanted to say no, still wanting to distance herself from being hurt, but at the same time that small voice in the back of her mind again whispered, _‘You could have a lot to gain.’_   “Sure.”  She was rewarded by the lingering darkness disappearing from Kimberly’s eyes and a bright smile.

“Great.  After detention do you wanna go straight out?”

“Yeah.  I’ll bring everything with me.”  Nerves and all.

“Perfect.”  Kimberly almost wiggled with excitement, hoping her plan would work.  This was going to be a huge leap and huge crash and burn if it went wrong, but the possible reward was too tempting to not try for.

Again, they descended into silence, neither looking away as the air around them buzzed.  Both were aware something was building, but unsure or unable to name what it could be at the moment.  Kimberly turned the hand within her own over, looking down at the small hand and brushing her hand over the warm palm, up her wrist.  She felt Trini’s finger’s twitch, and looked up to see the corner of her lips pull up in a smile.  The sight of those lips, soft and without the sharp edge of sarcasm that usually danced across it, was one Kimberly couldn’t look away from.  She wondered if she leaned forward, closed the distance between them, would she taste the lingering traces of the Sprite that was on Trini’s nightstand, or would she finally taste the warmth that was all Trini, a mixture of sharpness and sweet like the smaller girl’s personality?

A sharp beep from Kimberly’s watch startled both girls, and it was now that the ex-cheerleader realized she had actually leaned forward a few inches.  She snapped back as if bitten and looked away, focusing on her watch and using the time to try and still her racing heart.  “Shit, it’s almost three,” She hissed, knowing she had school in about five hours.  She looked back at Trini, pausing when she saw that Trini looked just as flustered and disgruntled as she herself felt.  Filing that look away for another time she replied, “I guess I should get going and head to bed.”

It was on the tip of Trini’s tongue to invite Kim to stay the night, but she held back.  They would have to get up early to make sure she was out before Trini’s parents came in anyway.  Besides Trini needed a little bit of space from Kimberly, needing to find solid ground again after all that had just happened.  If she wasn’t mistaken Kimberly had been leaning forward, an intoxicating look in her eye that had warmth pooling in some very interesting places.

“Yeah uh…yeah.”   _‘Smooth Garcia.  Very smooth.’_   She rolled her eyes at her own stuttering and got up, allowing Kimberly to climb off the bed.  They moved over to the window and Kimberly started to climb on it to exit, but stopped and turned back to Trini.  Before losing her nerve, she leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her cheek, lingering for a moment as she listened to a breath hitch in ear and warmth bloom beneath her lips.

Pulling back, Kimberly smiled and whispered, “I’ll see you at school.”

“See ya,” Trini said just as softly, unable to do more then watch as Kimberly left the same way she came in, albeit a lot more gracefully.  For a time, she stood there, a mirage image of the taller girl lingering just like the warmth of her kiss on her skin.  A soft smile played on her lips as she finally moved back to the bed and settled in, looking forward to Saturday and a night that was filled with images of soft brown and pink, instead of cold green and sharp gold.


End file.
